


intro to engineering

by Fandom_Trash224



Series: Batfam Beyond AU [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Found Family, Gen, Insecurity, Terry McGinnis is Batman, Tiffany Fox is Batwing, a jock goth nerd, a jock nerd, but still a NERD, i yeeted canon out the window two fics back but still, oh no everyone is a nerd in this fic, so is tim tho so it's okay, terry is a NEEERD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23832367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Trash224/pseuds/Fandom_Trash224
Summary: Tim promises to take Terry on a tour of the R&D department of WayneTech, where he now works as the lead designer. They run into some friendly faces along the way, and Terry is given some advice (even if he doesn't quite understand it yet).(alternatively titled: 5 nerds in a room)
Relationships: Luke Fox & Tam Fox & Tiffany Fox, Terry McGinnis & Luke Fox, Tim Drake & Terry McGinnis
Series: Batfam Beyond AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1710604
Comments: 6
Kudos: 96





	intro to engineering

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact! the fox siblings were originally only supposed to be mentioned in passing, but then i read some of luke's stuff in the batwing comics and was like "oh. i love them" and here they are! 
> 
> also terry is a technology nerd bc i said so. my au my rules now.
> 
> EDIT: i forgot to mention that i got the idea of R&D tim from the wonderful Maggie, who is @batboycentral on tumblr. she's great.

If Terry had the ability to go back in time and tell his younger self that, one day, he was going to discover the identities of the various Gotham vigilantes before being given the chance to become Batman himself, which in turn allowed for him to be led on a private tour of the R&D department of WayneTech by the head of the place, who  _ also _ happened to be the former Red Robin, well…. Younger Terry probably would’ve punched his older self in the crotch and called him a liar for  _ multiple  _ reasons in that scenario.

But there he was, seventeen, Batman (no matter what anyone else said,  _ Damian _ ), and being led through the halls of the WayneTech building, past offices and testing rooms filled to the brim with various inventions that made the air practically  _ hum _ with energy. Terry couldn’t help but feel a bit awed by it all. 

“How much of this stuff is related to the other job?” Terry asked after passing by a room with what  _ looked _ to be some sort of modified hybrid engine, something that Terry couldn’t help but think would go  _ great _ in the Batmobile.

“Most of it isn’t,” Drake (Wayne?  _ Tim _ ) replied casually as they stopped at a pair of double doors. The sign above them read “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY”, and Terry felt a bit of childish glee at the fact that he was now considered  _ authorized personnel _ . “Officially, WayneTech has no connection to Batman or any other vigilantes in Gotham. Although, whatever the employees do in their spare time is  _ their _ business.” 

“Wait, so then how much of the company even kno--”

“Hardly any of them,” Tim answered with a slight grin, swiping his keycard through the electronic lock on the doors, a satisfying  _ click _ giving way to an open door. “The CEO, Lucas Fox? He knows. So do both of his sisters. He, uh, actually used to be one of us.”

Terry blinked. “Seriously?”

“Yeah! His dad, Lucius, actually used to help design a lot of the gadgets we used, your suit included.” Tim let out a soft laugh as they made their way through the mostly-empty halls, the early Sunday morning not lending itself to many visitors. “Lucius, Luke, and I tore our hair out over it for  _ months _ over that thing, you know. I almost  _ cried _ when we finished it.”

“I can imagine. It’s a thing of beauty.” Terry said quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets as he thought about the suit—  _ his _ suit. He’d never get over the fact that it was  _ his _ , that he was  _ Batman _ (even with Damian’s claims otherwise). “I mean, just the  _ base _ nanotech would’ve been a nightmare to wire, even if it was done  _ today _ . I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like back then. Not to mention making allowing muscle amplification without putting strain on the host body, creating seamless storage extensive enough to replace a proper utility belt, enabling the failsafe feature  _ without _ frying the circuitry--”

“You really know your way around tech, don’t you?” Tim remarked, a slight smile on his lips. “You ever thought about making it a career?”

Terry shrugged, shifting uncomfortably as they stopped for a moment in front of the door to Tim’s office. “A couple times, yeah, but between my GPA and my record… Well, colleges aren’t exactly lining up with offers.”

“Hm… If you’d like, I could have Bruce look into it. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to--”

“No thanks!” Terry quickly said, waving his hands almost frantically. When Tim raised an eyebrow (in a  _ very _ Bruce way, Terry noticed), Terry cleared his throat, shoving his hands into his pockets before explaining, “Listen, I appreciate everything you guys are doing for me, but I can’t rely on your family forever. It’s…”

Terry trailed off. It was what? Why  _ was  _ Terry so against getting help? Even when his father had offered a hand, given Terry every avenue, every chance, Terry had refused to take it. Was it pride? Stubbornness? And now his dad was  _ gone _ , and  _ he  _ had to be the one to help his family stay afloat, and he  _ still _ refused extra help. 

Of course, this help wasn’t coming from his dad, or his mom, and Terry’s been burned one too many times by that sort of thing to fully trust it. Tim gave him a look that told Terry that he understood, but didn’t fully agree (in a  _ very _ Warren McGinnis way, making Terry’s heart clench). 

“‘Sides,” Terry continued, though his voice was quieter, “Not really good with all that academic crap anyways.”

“Listen, Ter,” Tim began, his voice gentle and understanding as he completely disregarded the second part of what Terry said. “You may not realize it now, but you’re part of this family, just as much as any of us. We look out for each other, in and out of costume, no matter what. It’s not a bad thing to have some extra help.”

“I--”

“I know. I won’t be able to change your mind in a single day, just… Keep it in mind, okay?” 

Terry nodded, his chest feeling uncomfortably tight. Tim nodded in reply, flashing Terry a grin as he opened the door to his office. Both of them froze as their eyes met the gaze of the three people currently standing in the room, two in rather professional suits, one in a much more casual affair of sweatpants, sweatshirt, and sneakers. Terry felt himself tense, but Tim only let out a laugh.

“Luke! Tam! Tiff!” Tim walked forward, clasping a hand with the man in the center of the trio. “It’s good to see you!”

“Wait, Luke? As in--”

“Lucas Fox, CEO of Wayne Enterprises,” Luke said with a smile, switching his hand from Tim’s strong, friendly grip to Terry’s weaker, stunned one. “You must be Mr. McGinnis.”

“Uh, yeah,” Terry murmured, still somewhat shell-shocked as he pulled his hand away. “Just uh, just Terry is fine, though.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Terry,” the woman in the suit said, also shaking Terry’s hand, though his grip was a bit stronger as his mind stopped short-circuiting. “Tamara Fox. President of Wayne Enterprises. Please, call me Tam.”

“And the lady next to Luke in the sweatshirt,” Tim moved so Terry could get a proper look at her, “Is Tiffany Fox.”

“Hey there, Bat-Boy.” Tiffany said, giving a slight wave to Terry. “I should probably get the fact that I’m Batwing out of the way before we go any further, so you don’t freak out too much.”

“Wh--  _ You’re _ Batwing?” Terry asked, his voice in a much higher octave than he meant for it to be. “I thought Batwing ditched Gotham for the Justice League?”

“ _ Technically _ , it’s the Justice League International Outreach Branch,” Tiffany corrected, but it sounded more playful than serious. “And I didn’t  _ ditch _ Gotham. I just go places more than the rest of you bat-butts. You know. Like Batwing was  _ supposed _ to do.”

The last bit of that sentence was accompanied by Tiffany sending a somewhat teasing smile to Luke, who rolled his eyes.

“Not my fault the city was a shitshow. Plus, if I hadn’t stuck around, who would’ve taken care of Lady Vic? Or upgraded the ‘Wing suit? Or saved our dad? Or helped develop  _ your  _ suit? Or--”

“I  _ get  _ it, I get it!”

The older people in the room laughed, and Terry, for nearly the millionth time since meeting the Waynes, felt like he was intruding on an intimate moment.

“What brings you three down to WayneTech, anyhow?” Tim asked after the laughter died down. “I mean, as much as I hope it’s just to see an old friend, I figure the three of you being in one place at one time means there’s something a bit more…  _ batty _ , happening.”

Terry couldn’t tell if that was just a  _ pun _ or if it was supposed to be code, but either way, it made him cringe. Hard. Tiffany groaned, so that probably answered the question.

“Tiff here is having some issues with her suit,” Luke explained, pulling out a blueprint tube, like the ones from  _ way _ back in the day, when people still used paper more often than holographs for schematics. “The HUD keeps glitching out, even after the repairs made to it. I still think that it has something to do with the system not having time to do a proper reboot during that incident back in London, but Tiff wants us to look over the hardware, just in case.”

“I’ll clear a table. Is the suit nearby?” 

“I’ve got it on standby in the back,” Tiff said as the group moved to leave the office, leaving Terry feeling somewhat left out as he followed them a few paces back. “I’ll bring it in once we have an idea of what we need to do.”

“Sounds good to me-- Wait,” Tim turned around, causing the group to pause for a moment. Tim looked genuinely apologetic, maybe even somewhat embarrassed, as he spoke. “I brought Terry because I wanted to give him a tour of the place. You guys can get started, I’ll be back once--”

“It’s fine, Tim,” Terry said, flat yet polite. “This kinda stuff sounds more important. I’ll just uh… be over here.”

It wasn’t  _ fine _ , but with Batwing being part of the Justice League, it was certainly a  _ lot  _ more important, no matter how Terry felt about it. Tim frowned, but Luke handed him the tube with the blueprints.

“You guys go on ahead. I’ll stick with Terry for a minute.”

Tam nodded, and soon the other three were rolling out the schematics over a table, Tiff pointing out different areas that Terry couldn’t quite hear about. Once again, he was the outsider, the one who was looking in, watching from the window. Sure, it was slightly open, he could yell through it, give a wave, but it wasn’t like he could just climb inside. It wasn’t his place. 

_ Not yet. Not until he could prove himself as Batman. _

“You know,” Luke mused quietly as he and Terry watched the trio, “I was actually the  _ second _ Batwing.”

Terry blinked in surprise, his head whipping to look at the CEO. “Really?”

Luke nodded, a small smile on his face. “The first one was named David Zavimbe. He was part of this initiative Bruce tried to put in place, ‘Batman Incorporated’. It worked okay for a bit, but as time went on it kinda went quiet. A lot of them retired pretty soon afterwards, but David kept it going for a little bit, at least until he realized that Tinasha wasn’t like Gotham, and didn’t respond to Batman the same way.”

“So then you ended up with it?”

“Yup. At first, I was just looking into a few cases in Africa, but I ended up back in Gotham after finishing those up. Then the people I had been looking into kidnapped my dad, but we got him back.  _ Then _ Wayne Towers was attacked by an assassin called ‘Lady Vic’. When I say she whooped my butt… Man, she  _ whooped _ it. Practically tore apart the Batwing suit, too.”

“Ouch… How’d you take her down, then?”

“I adapted. The old suit worked well enough, but the way my dad made it… Well, let’s just say there’s a big difference between  _ design _ and  _ execution _ . The suit wasn’t made for me or my style, it was made for David’s. I could use it well enough, sure, but if I was gonna fight crime, I needed to be my  _ own _ Batwing, you know?”

“Yeah,” Terry muttered, shoving his hands into his pocket as he hunched his shoulders. “I get it.”

He didn’t get it. If Luke could tell he was lying, he didn’t show it. Instead, he just clapped a hand onto Terry’s back, firm and warm. “Take it easy, kid. You’ll figure it out one day.”

Before Terry could ask what Luke  _ meant _ by that, they were interrupted by someone whistling at them.

“Hey Luke!” Tiff called out, pulling the two men from their conversation. “Why don’t you and Bat-Boy come over here and lend us a hand?”

“My baby sisters need  _ my _ help?”

“No, but you know what they say: Five heads are better than one. Now get your butts over here!”

Terry was  _ pretty _ sure that  _ wasn’t _ how the saying went, but he didn’t really have the time to argue as he was whisked towards the group, ideas already flying left and right. He stayed quiet at first, just staring down at the schematics, but before long, Terry couldn’t help but join in, all the technobabble and story-telling firing him up in a way he hadn’t felt since--

Well. It had been a while. He’d just leave it at that.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos appreciated! (even if i dont. always reply to comments fhdksuh im so sorry)
> 
> check me out on tumblr!
> 
> dc: gothamhell.tumblr.com  
> main: fandom-trash224.tumblr.com


End file.
